The Lab
by saichanlovestoad
Summary: The Brotherhood is kidnapped. Will they survive what the doctor's have in store? Explict content. Graphic detail. Character deaths. Do not read if sqeamish. Please don't flame me. You've been warned.
1. Chapter 1

* * *

A/N I don't own any of these characters except for the doctors. The rest belong to the creators of X-Men: Evolution.

Please, if you're squeamish, do NOT read on. What is written in this story is very gruesome, morbid, and tragic. I'm warning you now, I have spared no expense. I tried to edit out some of the more graphic things, but the details and references remain strong and violent. Please, consider these words before reading on.

I research serial killers in my spare time and know of many medieval torture devices and techniques. Writing morbid murder scenes is a specialty. These are as gripping as the real deal. If you dislike slasher films, blood, gore, dismemberment, and the like, DO NOT READ!!!

This is an M rated story, but most likely would be rated MA under normal circumstances. Not for children.

You have been warned. If you find the beginning too graphic, do NOT read further. But, you have been warned. Thank you for your time. Lots of love, Sai-chan.

* * *

Todd's body tensed as his dreams changed from that of Wanda to danger. The Scarlet Witch vanished and was replaced with a looming shadow reaching down for him. Eyes opening wide, he saw darkness and nothing more in his room. Sitting up slowly, he knew that someone was there. He may not have been the smartest or the toughest mutant, but he was part animal and all animals could sense danger.

He glanced around the room, easing himself into a crouching position on the sheets. The clock read two am, the closet was shut tight, and the door was still closed. Something was wrong, though. He hadn't shut his closet. In fact, he hadn't even known the door could shut, the hinges were so rusted. Someone was hiding in his closet, and something told him it wasn't one of the Brethren playing a prank on him.

Keeping his eyes on that door, he stepped off his bed. The door was less then ten feet away. One bound would do it but he wasn't going to chance not being able to open the door in time. He'd have to make a break for it and wake up the others. He could scream but there was something about the situation that stole his usually loud voice. His throat was dry and he couldn't stop shaking. This was bad, whatever, whoever, was in his closet was bad. In the depths of his mind, as he inched into a ready position, he prayed it was Mystique.

Tearing his eyes away from the door, he bolted for his bedroom door. The closet burst open and a person cloaked in white gave chase. His hands turned the knob, the door opened, and two hands covered his mouth. He screamed, clawing all the way to the floor. He kicked wildly, eyes beginning to roll back in his skull as the hands cut off his air supply.

A needle was stuck in his arm and his vision began to turn fuzzy around the edges. He fought to stay awake as his body went limp and the door was shut.

* * *

Pietro rolled over and his hand slammed into the end table next to his bed. Cursing, he sat up and shoved the offending object away. His clock clattered to the floor and he swore away. Leaning down to get it, however, he saw a shadow slip by outside his door. Turning around, he saw nothing.

Suddenly at his door, he creaked it open. No one was out in the hallway, although he could've swore someone had just walked by. Knowing he was the only person who could move that fast, he knew they must've either gone back to their rooms or to the bathroom. Leaving his room, he checked the bathroom and found nothing.

" Hello? Anyone here? Wanda? Lance? Todd? Fred? That you?" he asked, walking down the hall. He opened the doors, trying to figure out was messing with him. He found that only Todd's bedroom was empty, " Toad, that's not funny. Where are you?"

A light flickered downstairs. He headed that way, then stopped at the end of the stairs. A foreboding feeling filled his being, the same kind of feeling he'd often gotten when around his father or when he used to think about his sister. Something wasn't right and he figured it had nothing to do with Todd playing a prank. Todd was good, but not that good.

Instead of going forward, he began to back up, trying to decide whether he should wake Lance or Wanda first. Settling for Lance, he turned around but stopped in the middle of his tracks.

Standing in front of him was a man dressed head to toe in black, holding a needle. He was blocking the way to the other rooms. That sense of evil radiated intensely from that man, so strong, it choked Pietro.

He backed away, then zapped down the stairs. The front door was wide open. Knowing he was running straight into a trap but also knowing that the only form of help he could get would be at the Institute, he darted out. Laying on the grass was Todd's lifeless body, bound and gagged, in front of a black armored car. Pietro stopped dead, staring in horror, before letting out a scream.

A needle was stabbed into his neck and down he fell, crumbling to the ground five feet away from his friend. His vision dimmed as a light went on in the upstairs part of the house.

* * *

Fred turned on his light, sure he'd heard someone yelling. Getting slightly angry at being awoken at such an early hour, he heaved himself out of bed and crossed the room. Shoving open the door, he walked out into the hallway. Pietro's door was wide open, which he found weird since he'd thought the speedster had come home that night. Shrugging it off as confusion, he started to walk down the hall.

The bathroom door was closed. Normal people would've assumed that meant someone was using it, but not Fred. He knew that no one but Wanda would bother shutting the door at two am. However, Wanda would've turned the light on. Someone else was inside that room. It wasn't Pietro's date because he wasn't home. They had a trespasser, and that just wasn't allowed in the Boarding House.

Fred cracked his knuckles before giving the door one hard shove. It flew open and crashed into the wall with a loud bang. Standing inside, with a needle ready, was a broad shouldered man in black.

The man charged before Fred could say anything. He swung at him, got stuck by the needle, but managed to knock the guy into the wall. Pain shot up from where the needle had entered, but that was it. Ripping the needle out and tossing it to the side, he grinned and walked forward. The man got to his feet and bite the top off a thicker needle.

" A weakling like you can't take me. Not with a shot, you can't," Fred growled, hitting the man again. The man slammed into the wall before jamming the needle down into Fred's outstretched forearm. A gel like liquid rushed through his skin, " What the hell? What'd you do!!"

His voice echoed as his arm pounded with pain. He thrashed wildly at the three men in black that kept coming one over and over again before collapsing to his knees. Another needle was pushed into his neck and he fell forward, the world turning black before his eyes.

* * *

Lance pulled the ear plugs out of his ears as he felt a vibration throughout the floor. His hearing returned to normal, but the house was silent. That vibration could've been caused by one person and only one person. Fred. Fred was up at two am and there were no sounds of any of the others being awake with him. Lance knew that Fred would've only gotten up if either Todd or Pietro woke him up. And their voices carried. He may have been able to block the noise out as he slept with the music, but it was silent now and those two didn't stop talking.

Something was wrong with Fred. Concluding that, he got to his feet and left his bedroom. Pietro's door was wide open, which was freaky because the blond only slept in darkness and he knew he'd come home that night. He kicked the door completely open, but the bedroom was empty of life.

Leaving that, he checked on Todd' room. It too was empty. If things hadn't been weird before, they were weird now. Todd was always in his room that early in the morning. Pietro could've just as well gotten up to get something to drink or eat, but not Todd. Todd ate bugs and there were plenty of those in his bedroom. Todd was missing, Pietro's room was empty, and there was something wrong with Fred.

Lance didn't check any of the other rooms. He headed straight for Wanda's and knocked on the door. She answered it, looking paranoid and cold hearted at the same time. They looked at each other and knew the other was thinking the same as them. Something was going down and they were next.

" I heard my brother from outside and I think Fred was up here. He screamed. Then there was a thud. I was waiting for the attack," she explained, drawing a robe around her nightgown. Lance nodded.

" Todd's gone. And I mean, gone,"

" Is it the X-men?"

" No. It's something new. Stay with me," he instructed, turning back around and walking back down the hallway. Wanda followed him, glancing over her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted movement. Casting a hex of blue light, she trapped a person.

A man in all white fell to his knees, screaming, and dropping a needle full of a clear liquid. The needle shattered just as Lance turned and Wanda's eyes widened in shock. She twisted around, sensing a presence, and a needle was slammed down into her arm. She screamed out, releasing the man in white from her grip.

" WANDA!!" Lance yelled as she grabbed her arm and slumped to the side. He spun around and saw a much larger man in black pulling out another needle. Lance's eyes rolled back in his head and he lifted his foot off the ground as the man charged at him.

* * *

Scott awoke to an earthquake shaking the Institute. Glaring at the very thought of the Brotherhood causing trouble that this hour, he got himself out of bed as the alarm sounded. Every since mutants had been exposed to the world, they weren't taking any chances. Any sign of unrest at the Boarding house, and the X-Men piled into the X-van and headed down their to help settle things before someone ended up dead.

He left his room as the others came filing out of theirs. Moaning and cursing, the group suited up and headed down to the car park. They climbed inside the van and off they went. Scott cussed out loud as a speeding black armored car cut him off before veering off to the left. Jean gave him worried eyes as they made the turn off for the old house.

The front door was wide open. Not even the Brotherhood left their door open at night. Scott slammed on the brakes and the team rushed inside the leering house. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except that the Brethren were gone and there were two broken needles thrown in the bathroom and the upstairs hallway.

Then they saw it. The cracks that went up the walls. Letters were formed in the cracks in the floor and crept up the walls. Four letters in the most strikingly disturbing message, so ominous that the others could almost hear the Brethren's five voices ringing out in unison what Lance has told them.

'Help'.


	2. Chapter 2

Blurred visions came into focus slowly as Lance began to awaken. His body felt numb, the muscles relaxed to the point of being immobile. There was a pounding in his forehead, making it devilishly hard to concentrate on any one thing. A buzzing sound kept going off near his right ear, but, he wasn't sure what the noise was. Fighting to keep his eyes open, he looked up at the ceiling.

A light bulb hung down, with no covering. It went up into a cement ceiling with cameras in every corner and then some. For a moment, Lance didn't find anything strange with that. Then it occurred to him that the Boarding was neither cement nor protected with such technology as cameras.

He tried to sit up upon that realization but found his legs and arms strapped down with metal cuffs that were digging so hard into his skin, there was blood. As soon as he saw the blood, he faintly felt pain. Fear welled in his chest as it dawned on him that he should've been able to notice the pain beforehand. Something was wrong with him. He couldn't feel pain, he couldn't think straight, and he wasn't at home.

_Calm down, Lance. Just check your surroundings. Maybe one of the others can help you._

Sighing, he turned, asking sluggishly for the others. The second he turned his head, however, he wished he'd simply remained in his painless haze, for ignorance really was bliss.

The room was a small square, all the walls made of the same cement as the ceiling. Cracks ran along parts, holes nearly breaking through to the other side and revealing a sheet of metal. Blue prints of the human body were nailed to the wall to the left, instructions written along the sides in spidery hand writing. Glass containers full of blood and body parts sat on a table underneath the blue prints, labeled accordingly. Pushed under the table was a large cooler, red ice dripping down the side.

In front of him was a wall with numerous tools, such as drills, needles, saws, and knives, all hanging in neat rows. Shelves of more weapons ran down below those hanging, all jammed with heaps of severed flesh and bloody weapons that had recently been used.

From what he could see as he strained his neck, all that was behind him was a door. An old reddish grey metal door, the only one in the entire room. Beyond that door was the unknown.

To the right, Lance found a small cell with stained bars and a pad lock. Inside that cell were his teammates, three of whom were awake and screaming hysterically, one who was unconscious. The three awake were Fred and the Maximoffs. Todd was laying there as though dead, his body unmoving. Suddenly, the buzzing noise he'd been hearing since he woke up became clear. The buzzing was the screaming.

" OH MY GAWD!!OH MY GAWD!!" Pietro yelled over and over, holding a shrieking and sobbing Wanda. Her bloody and holed hands clutched his legs in a panicked, comforting sort of way. At least, she clutched as best she could, seeing as she had large holes drilled through her hands. Her hands slipped in their own blood and she fell, supported only by his arms.

Fred moaned and screamed something inaudible, leaning against the wall near the hysterical siblings. His hands were covering in the red liquid as well, only it was seeping out of large, roughly sewn up slashes across his large stomach. Somehow, his stomach seemed smaller and oddly shaped.

Lance stared for a second before his eyes darted back to the chunks of flesh on the shelf in front of him. All of a sudden, he felt ill and had to look away from the cell and the shelf. He found himself staring at the jars of body parts and a thought went through his mind. He closed his eyes tight, remembering how he hadn't felt the pain in his arms, then reopened them and looked down the length of his own body.

Incisions ran down the lower half of his legs, cris-crossing every which way. Blood leaked out of the ones of his left leg and he felt slight pain. He let out a gasp of horror as he tried to move and found his legs limp and immobile.

" Oh my fucking God!" he moaned, squeezing his eyes shut. Seeing those cuts with their black thread stitching had 'sobered' him up. Pain began to inch it's way up from his legs, all the way to his throbbing head. The cuffs suddenly started to ache. The pain was almost unbearable then. He couldn't imagine what it was going to feel like when the drugs completely wore off.

The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt before. It shot in waves through his body, making him shake and cry out like a wounded animal. His legs were a burning sensation that seemed almost alive, eating up his calves and feet. His arms were bloody and raw from struggling and violent, near seizures of agony. The other numerous aches faded into the background as dull annoyances as he let out another quivering scream as the fire in his legs roared to life once again.

Lance took a deep breath when the pain subsided to the usual searing aguish it usually was. Turning his head in the 'absence of pain', he looked over at the cell his friends were being kept at. Wanda was silent, staring blankly at her hands, which were wrapped in Pietro's torn shirt. He had his arms around her but couldn't comfort her anymore. There wasn't much he could say. Fred sat next to them, hands pushed against the two worse bleeding slashes in him and tried not to succumb to the agony he must of been feeling.

Todd remained lifeless. From what Lance had gathered from Pietro, the people who'd kidnaped them thought he'd overdosed on the drugs. The plan was to wait another couple hours to see if he would wake up so they could begin testing or cut his remains up to examine what muscles were animal and what weren't. The rest of the Brethren hoped and prayed with all their might that he'd died already.

" Pietro. Shake Todd again," Lance commanded, gritting his teeth in an effort to sound stronger. Pietro gently released his sister, then leaned forward and shook his teammate; he didn't move his legs as he'd been injected with something that made them numb.

A light moan escaped Todd's mouth, his eyes slightly opening. Lance swore before being struck by another wave of fiery agony. Pietro shook Todd again, but got nothing more.

The door behind Lance opened with a crashing bang. All four of the completely conscious ones stared as a man in a white lab coat walked inside. Dark brown hair spilled over his coat in a slick ponytail, cold light eyes looked out at them from a sickeningly arrogant face. He smiled at them, walking past Lance and to the cell. As Lance began to demand to knew who he was and where they were, the man unlocked the cell and stepped inside. From his coat he removed a needle, which he then hastily slammed into Pietro's leg. The blond screamed as a liquid was injected and then again as the process was repeated. From there, the man injected a smaller dose into Wanda's neck and got up, drawing out a thicker needle. He stabbed it into Fred and inserted the gel before turning to the shaking and moaning Todd.

" Well, well, well. You're finally awake. Good," he cooed in a cold voice, leaning over Todd. Then he turned to the door, " LUTHER!! COME HERE!!!"

His voice echoed as he left the cell and walked over to Lance. Lance's voice caught in his throat but he managed to give a wicked glare. The man smiled at it and injected something into his arm.

" What the fu-" Lance's voice cut as the pain he'd been suffering through began to slip away. With it, however, went his ability to move. His muscles relaxed and went numb, " No! No! What the fuck did you give me!!"

" I'm here, Rutherford," came a deep, booming voice as a burly, broad shouldered man in a black lab coat walked inside. His hair, a rich ebony color, was cut short and fell into his face, basically covering his dark eyes completely. Scars ran over the skin that could be seen, jagged and deep. Black stitching went through many of them, lacing him together like the Frankenstein monster.

" Get this one into the cage. And the little one up here. It's time to beginning the operations," Rutherford instructed, leaving Lance and heading over to the wall of weapons. He ran his slender fingers over several blades and seemed ecstatic when his own blood began to drip down onto the floor.

Luther began to roughly unhook Lance. The only thing Lance could do to fight back was shout, so he did. He was ignored by both men in lab coats, then heaved over Luther's shoulder and carried to the cell. Lance tried to force his body to move but everything was limp and useless. He was shoved up against the wall between the siblings and Fred, placed almost as though he was going to be viewing an entertaining show.

Todd was then ripped off the floor and forced out of the cell. Instinct told him to fight and he did, as best he could. Luther wasn't even fazed and he slammed Todd's skinny body down on the cement, blood riddled bed and hooked him in. He proceeded to take other hooks and lock one of Todd's legs in so it couldn't move at all. Then, with a small smile, he ripped his jeans at the hip.

" He's all yours, Rutherford. I'll be waiting for the call," Luther took his leave then, shutting the metal door behind him as he went.

Rutherford smiled graciously, then walked over to the bed with a couple rusty tools in hand. Todd began to shake violently, blood beginning to trickle down his arms as he fought to get loose. The others stared in horror as the 'doctor' made a small incision into the white flesh with a pointed scalpel. Todd moaned as he ran the blade deeper and deeper, tearing away at the skin.

Todd let out a loud scream as Rutherford took a pair of what looked like tweezers and pulled the skin back with a loud sucking sound. Blood poured over the edge of the bed and onto the floor in a puddle. The doctor cut the skin back more and poked at the muscle he was looking out. A scream was his answer, which made him smile.

" STOP IT!! LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!" Lance roared, his voice echoing over Todd's screaming. Try as he might, however, he could do nothing. He focused everything he had into shifting the ground but it was useless. His body couldn't move to control it and his power faded away, " STOP IT!!"

" Oh my fucking God, stop it!" Pietro cried out, covering his face with quivering arms. Wanda squeezed her eyes closed, the only motion she could do as her vision began to disappear into black nothingness.

" Stop it, you fucker!!" Fred yelled along with Lance. He fought to get up or use his strength to at least punch the floor. He couldn't even move his head up an inch. Everything was numb and hung there, as though they weren't there.

Todd's head slammed back as his back arched and Rutherford cut something from his leg. There was a sickening sound as the doctor pulled it out and held up a dripping piece of muscle. Blood covered Todd's leg as the doctor examined it. The open wound was soaked with blood that ran over his stomach, leg, and the bed. Then Rutherford dropped the flesh onto the table and took up a small tool that was plugged to the wall. He turned on the tiny saw and began to cut through the remaining muscle, to the bone that connected the hip.

The pain was too much. Todd's body convulsed, his eyes beginning to roll back into his head. Blood began to seep down his arm faster. It was all too much. Todd sobbed and screamed, desperately trying to free his leg. All he did was run the rest of it up and down in the cuffs and cause himself more agony. But he had to move. Even if only because the sharp pains shooting up from his leg caused him to jerk around and convulse.

There was a loud crack and Todd's voice reached a new pinnacle of high. Rutherford drew the saw out and stuck his bare finger into the hole he'd created. He poked the broken joint and caused shrieking and shaking and crying. He played with the two bones and then gave one a sharp jerk. The bone moved and Todd struggled to get free, until he hit his head so hard against the table that his vision blacked out for a second.

Rutherford let go of the bone and pulled his hand out of the whole. He inserted the scalpel and cut away more and more muscle until Todd stopped screaming and just cried pitifully, moaning and staring up at the ceiling. The others were still yelling, horrified by the amounts of slivers the man was cutting out of their friend's leg.

Without fixing the damage he'd done, Rutherford folded the skin back in place. He cut down the leg, freeing up more skin. He severed the muscle and fat from the skin, then grabbed his saw. He cut through the remaining muscle and flesh, then folded the skin up and began to sew it all together. He sewed up Todd's hip, leaving it a bleeding mass of dead skin and thick rows of black thread. As for the rest of the leg, he unhooked it and held it up, examining the wound he'd cut into it.

Todd screamed hysterically, fighting to cover his face. He cut more of his wrists up before squeezing his eyes closed and sobbing to himself as the doctor dropped the amputation on the desk as though it was nothing. The others screamed with their friend, watching the blood leak out through the stitching.

Rutherford smiled happily.


	3. Chapter 3

Luther came back about every three hours to inject the Brotherhood with the various liquids. Todd was moved back into the cell, next to Lance. Other then that, they didn't see the doctors for the next few days. After four days, however, the door to the unknown opened and Rutherford walked inside. Lance narrowed his eyes, willing the ground to move with everything he had. Without movement, though, there was only a tremor.

" Oh, my, my. LUTHER!!!" the man in white shouted over his shoulder, strolling over to the bars. In a moment, Luther stepped inside, " That one,"

" Got it," he unlocked the bars and walked inside. Lance's eyes rolled back in his head and another tremor shot across the floor. Luther seemed unaffected and jammed a needle into his neck. Lance screamed as a hot liquid ran through his blood stream and his mind went hazy. For good measure, Luther injected all of them with their respected poisons.

" Grab the female. It's time for the real tests," Rutherford instructed, leaving the bars and walking over to the tools. Luther grabbed Wanda's arm and gave her a swift jerk. Pietro held on tight.

" GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SISTER!!!" he bellowed, hugging her tight. She groggily clung to him, grimacing in pain as Luther squeezed her wrist. There was a cracking sound and blood began to trickle down from his hand, " I'M NOT LETTING YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN, YOU MONSTERS!!"

" We're not monsters. That's you, little mutant," Rutherford informed him, before motioning to Luther. Luther's foot slammed into Pietro's head and it crashed back into the wall. In that instant, Luther ripped Wanda away from her brother, both of them screaming for her release.

Luther dropped her down on the table and strapped her in as she wildly shouted for her brother. Pietro tried to get up to save her but everything from his waist down was up and he couldn't even begin to stand up. Luther locked Wanda's throat in and strapped a thinner bar over her forehead. Pietro clawed at the ground, pulling the moving part of his body forward.

" Pietro, don't... they'll just inject you with more shit," Lance said, watching as the blond pulled himself across the floor. He ignored the warning, knowing he had to save his sister. This time, he was going to save her, no matter what the cost.

" PIETRO!! HELP ME!!" Wanda shrieked as Luther tightened the straps holding her head in place. Pietro shouted that he was coming for her and she started to sob, desperately trying to use her power. Things around the room shook but that was the extent of her conscious power.

" Well, let's begin. Luther, step aside," Rutherford ordered, waving him to the side. Luther nodded once before turning and leaving the room, " Go get more for the energetic one," Luther disappeared from sight and the door shut.

" Come on, baby cakes, concentrate! Ya can do this," Todd informed her, his voice shaking. Lance looked at him but he only weakly smiled a bloody smile.

" Yeah, concentrate, Wanda!" Fred chorused, giving her a visibly trembling thumbs up. Lance looked over at him to see more blood leaking out of his stomach. He then turned to where Rutherford was plugging something in and Wanda screamed and fought against her restraints.

" Let's go, Wanda! You're the Scarlet Witch!!" Lance finally yelled, trying to love his arm to help her. There was a small tremor in the ground but that was all he could do, as he'd just received a fresh injection.

Pietro pulled himself up next to the bars and jerked the rusted bars. They moved and creaked and groaned as he found to get loose. Rutherford looked at him, pulling on goggles, before yelling for Luther to hurry up with those doses. Then he turned on a drill.

" STOP!! DON'T DO ANYTHING TO HER!! WANDA!! I'M RIGHT HERE!! I'M RIGHT HERE!!" Pietro roared, banging on the cell door. Wanda screeched in fear, her blue eyes widening until it hurt as the drill was lowered down, " STOP IT!! STOP IT!! THAT'S MY SISTER!! THAT'S MY SISTER!!! DON'T!! WANDA!! THAT'S MY SISTER!!"

Blood splattered Pietro's face as the drill entered Wanda's head.

Her body convulsed violently as Rutherford drilled deep into her forehead. Blood dripped down her face and into her opened mouth. The others watched in horror as her body gave a shake and blood trickled into her eyes. When it slipped back out, it looked like she was crying her own blood. The drill was jerked out with a sucking sound and the hole spit up fresh blood.

Rutherford went to insert the drill again. Pietro shook and choked, looking down at the blood on his clothes and face. His sister's blood. Wanda's blood. For a moment, he went into shock. Then he began to scream and scream and scream, unable to do anything else but scream.

The others closed their eyes, Todd covering his face to hide the tears slowly making their way down his face. In their heads, they all said a prayer for Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, whom had just died in front of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Wanda's body was removed when Luther came back with the drugs for Pietro. As soon as she was taken from the room, Rutherford ordered his slave to put Pietro on the table. Said it was time to teach the boy some manners. Lance tried to create a tremor, but the doctors had given everyone a fresh dose of their poison. Lance couldn't even feel his arms, let alone use them to shift the ground. Thus, the blond was snatched up. He didn't fight back as he was in shock over what has become of his sister. He was strapped onto the bloody table before he even realized he'd been taken from the cage.

" What? No! Lemme go!" he begged, beginning to fight against the straps as Luther bound one of his legs in like he had done when Todd was on the cutting board, " Oh my fucking God!!! No! Fuck No!! Anything but my legs, you sick fuck!!! Anything but my legs!!"

" Stop struggling," Rutherford calmly ordered, motioning for Luther to leave the area. He stepped back through the door that led to the unknown. As soon as it shut, Rutherford turned on a saw, " This won't take long,"

" NO!! GET AWAY FROM ME!! YOU'RE NOT CUTTING OFF ONE OF MY LEGS!!!" Pietro screamed, jerking up. The straps tore at his wrists, but he didn't care. He fought hard, sitting up and causing blood to leak down into pools in his palms. His arms bent and burned, but he was determined, " GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

Rutherford turned the saw and cut it across Pietro's stomach. He let out an animal like gasp, blood quickly covering his legs as it gushed out the slash in his waist. He crumpled back against the stone bed, fighting to free his hands so he could stop the blood. He tasted metal, his body starting to go numb. Rutherford arched an eyebrow, before putting the saw down and grabbing his sewing kit. He started to push the needle into the boy's flesh and draw out cry after cry.

Pietro's body began to twist itself in agony, his mouth opening and closing without sound. There was a cracking, wet sound as his legs and wrists ripped towards his stomach. Blood began to run faster from one of his wrists as he let out a choked scream, red dripping down from his open mouth.

The doctor left his stomach a knotted mess, then grabbed the saw again. Pietro's body shook violently, moving incredibly fast. Rutherford drew back slightly, before coming forward and lowering the saw. It didn't touch the leg, because at that moment, Pietro let out a howling scream and his body jerked in every direction.

Cuts and tears began to appear on his flesh in places the doctor had never even seen run across the metal straps. The boy's blood began to pound harder and faster, flowing through the tears and black lacing in his belly. His chest moved rapidly, as he struggled and fought and screamed and ripped himself apart. The red liquid ran in streams down his forearms as he pulled his arms down harder and harder and harder to try and defend his legs.

Rutherford placed the saw down and instead picked up a scalpel. He slowly brought it down into Pietro's bound leg.

" GET THAT THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, YOU BASTARD!!!" Pietro roared, twisting his body in a million different ways to try and free his leg. The doctor smiled and made another small incision, " I SAID GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU MURDERER!!!"

" This could be interesting," he cooed out, pushing the blade into the pale flesh. Pietro dragged his arms down, as though trying to force his hands through the straps. Rutherford ignored him and continued to bring the knife down to see how hard the boy would fight.

Pietro gritted his teeth in sheer rage, tears beginning to snake down his cheeks. Fire ripped up his leg from the cuts being made. He wouldn't die like Wanda, so he couldn't let this doctor operate on him. He wouldn't let him take his legs. Anything but his legs. He'd give anything but his legs. He wasn't as drugged as Todd had been. He wasn't unconscious like Lance or Fred had been. And his head wasn't strapped down like Wanda's had been. His body neutralized the drugs faster then anyone else's. He could think straight. He could fight.

And he wasn't going to let this monster rip him apart when he could fight.

He closed his eyes and jerked his hands as hard as he could. Pain roared to life in his arms, but he kept at it. His body twisted and convulsed as he fought, his torn up waist causing blood to rush to his mouth. Still, he fought to get free. He coughed on the blood, spat it out on his shirt.

Rutherford smiled.

That was enough. This was the man who'd drilled a hole in his sister's head. This was the man who'd taken his sister from him. This was the man who'd butchered his best friends. This was the man who'd taken him from the only home he'd ever known. This was the man who'd destroyed the Brotherhood's one and only chance at freedom. This was the man who'd done all that.

And he was the only one who could fight back. Todd had lost his leg and the one woman he'd ever loved. Lance had lost the use of his legs and thus his power. Fred had lost so much of his stomach and was watching the only friends he'd ever had be cut apart. They's tried so hard when they were being ripped open and cut up and dissected. They gave it their all when they had nothing to give. But he could think straight, he could act on the pain he felt.

Letting out a loud scream of both agony and rage, Pietro tore his right hand from the strap in a fountain of blood and slammed it into Rutherford's smiling face.

The doctor stuck back, his scalpel tearing across Pietro's face and slicing from right jaw to left forehead wide open in gushing blood.

Unable to see through all the blood, Pietro wildly grabbed for the doctor's shirt. He snatched it up in a blur of white and red and held fast. The doctor drew back and Pietro's hand slipped in the blood and broken bones. In that instant, Rutherford had the saw in his hand and he cut the hand reaching for him off. Pietro let out a pained gasp as it was cut from him.

Rutherford went to cut the rest of Pietro's arm off, but a tremor shot through the ground and he fumbled the saw and it dropped to the ground as the door opened to the unknown. Luther came barreling in with needles and such, looking throughly furious.

" LUTHER, INJECT HIM!!" the doctor ordered, falling to the ground as another, stronger, tremor shook the ground. Luther went straight for Pietro, who turned and knocked the needles to the ground in one quick shot, " STOP HIM, RIGHT NOW, LUTHER!!!"

The man lunged at the blond as he struggled to undo his bindings. Another quake rocked the ground and Luther stumbled a little bit. He steadied himself and began to walk forward. One step closer, however, and a green tongue wrapped around his neck, tight, and jerked him back into the cage the other three were being kept in. He clawed at the tongue, Todd winced, and let go. But it was enough.

Fred's hand grabbed hold of Luther's throat, the mutant using his strength to stand up despite the pain in his stomach. Fred squeezed as hard as he could. There was a quick snap, crack, and then blood spilled out between his fingers as Luther's body slumped down, red spots appearing in his eyes, his mouth open in a scream he never got to utter. The mutant released him and he dropped like a lead weight, his neck a good few inches thinner.

Six gun shots rang out.

Pietro's body slammed back into the bed, his one arm going up to the hole in his shoulder. Todd jerked into the wall next to Lance, blood spitting out his mouth and stomach. Lance went back as a bullet tore through his waist and into the wall behind him.

Fred fell to his knees, three holes in his stomach. He weakly smiled through the blood at the doctor standing there with the gun. Fred went to his hands and knees, feeling the blood rushing out of him. However, he also knew it'd take a lot more then that to kill him. Three bullets just wasn't enough. At least, that's what he hoped as he took in a couple of shallow breaths. Nodding to himself, he pushed down on the floor and got back to his feet. Rutherford's eyes widened as he walked forward and ripped the bars down to the cage he'd been kept in.

Enough was enough. He was going to finish this if it killed him.

Rutherford fumbled around in his pockets for more bullets, backing up into the wall behind him. Fred tore the straps off Pietro, his vision spinning. Pietro gasped out, smiling a bloody smile, tears running down his face. The other mutant patted his leg and turned to the doctor. He grabbed his shirt, ripped him off the floor, and threw him straight into the cage and the wall there.

A crunching filled the air for a second before the doctor fell to the ground in a pile of broken bones and sticky blood. His eyes were blank. He was dead. So very, very dead.

" Fuck..." Lance muttered, covering the gaping wound on his side. Todd inched away from the doctor's blood as it swept over the cement floor, " Fred... you saved us, you fucking hero..." he turned to his friend, as did the other two.

Fred was slumped against the wall, his hands at his sides. Blood leaked out of the holes in his body and the vicious stitching that went around his waist. A smile was on his face, red liquid dripping down his chin. Though he was smiling, having saved what remained of his friends, his eyes were blank and lifeless. The others drew back in what could only be described as horror, Todd closing his eyes and Pietro slipping a little in the blood that drenched the bed he was on.

Silently, they said good bye to Fred Dukes, the Blob, who had finally been stopped.


	5. Chapter 5

As the drugs wore off, the pain the remaining three felt increased. Lance gritted him teeth as he heaved himself to his feet, blood being absorbed by his jeans as it ran down from the hole in his side. He did his best to ignore the pain as he walked awkwardly out of the broken cell. Pietro was standing there, one of Todd's arms draped over his shoulder to support the younger boy. Both of his team were grimacing in agony, blood dripping from their legs and bullet wounds.

" Okay, Toad, Quicksilver. Let's get the fuck outta here," he said, refusing to look at the corpse of his friend. They didn't answer, but he knew what they would've answered. Thus, he led the way the door the doctors had gone in and out of so many times throughout the time they'd been locked up.

Lance opened the door to the unknown.

All three let out small screams, stumbling backwards to get away from the horrible sight in front of them, their eyes too wide for their faces and completely disbelieving of what was before them. If what they saw was true, then they knew there was no hope for them. No hope whatsoever.

A long room stretched out in front of them, it's walls lines with stacks of rotting, torn up and sewn back together mutant corpses. Body parts stuck out in odd places, attached to the wrong section of the body. Faces, cut apart or split wide open, stared with blank, dead eyes at them, mouths opened in wordless screams. Hands reached towards them, several missing fingers or sewn onto something other then arms. Pieces were missing everywhere, things closed up with that tell tale black lacing that they all bore on some part of their own mangled bodies.

Blood ran down the walls, claw marks here and there as if people had been buried here while still alive, therefore dying in a pile of someone else's parts. The stench of rotting flesh filled the air and washed over the boys, making them gag and want to puke.

Along with the mountains of twisted, distorted remains, there were countless ice chests the sizes of coffins. Red ice ran down the sides, lending a hand in figuring out what was being stored in the bellies of these makeshift caskets. One was open and arms and legs stuck out, a hand with no fingertips resting next to bloodied cuts craved into the side of the metal. The top on that one was thrown onto the ground, nail marks running up and down the inside. Someone hadn't been dead when laid to rest and had fought to be free, only to die of some other cause. Judging by the bright red ice that rose around the body parts that stuck out, blood loss had killed them.

A door loomed across from them, nail marks sliding down from side to side and up and down, blood splattered along it at various heights. Pad locks glinted on the sides, a computer system hooked into it, needing a combination of numbers to unlock. The amount of blood that surrounded that one metal door, along with the dents that littered it, signaled that the combination wasn't something that anyone knew and the door was too solid to break down.

" Oh... my... fucking... Gawd..." Lance breathed out as Todd threw up next to him and Pietro stumbled to his feet, " W-wait, where are you going?"

" My sister... she was taken here... my sister..." he barely uttered, hurrying into the death chamber, eyes looking wild. He began to rip open the caskets, covering his nose and mouth with his remaining hand. Lance fought to get to his feet, knowing that he didn't want Pietro to find Wanda if this was what the corpses looked like.

He walked into the room, leaving Todd quivering on the floor where he was. Pietro was calling for Wanda, as though she could still hear him and would rise from one of the caskets, alive and well as she had been before they were kidnaped. Lance grabbed hold of his arms and struggled to pull him away from the ice chests. As they fought on, Todd pulled himself up the wall and to his feet. He used the wall as support as he inched into the room, gold eyes wider then wide.

" Pietro! Stop it! Stop it! Let her rest in peace!" Lance shouted, slamming the blond into one of the walls near the caskets. Pietro stared at him with tears running down his face, " You did what you could! There's nothing else that can be done! So stop it!"

" I need to see her, Lance! I have to make sure they didn't-"

" Stop it! Let her be!"

" Oh shit," Todd's voice cut through their fighting as the boy slipped in his own blood and fell into one of the piles of corpses. His scream tore out, his hands clawing at the bodies as he pulled himself to his knees, and then fell forward, unbalanced as he now only had one knee. He covered his face, shaking on the ground, trying not to start crying in front of the other boys, but finding himself already sobbing.

" Toad... " Lance mumbled, letting go of the blond and forcing his legs to walk over to the shaking boy. Todd looked up at him, " It's... um... oh fuck... I don't know..." he collapsed to the ground next to his teammate, having nothing to say that would make this any less terrible then it was.

* * *

Time ticked by, Lance sitting there, staring blankly at the blood riddled floor. Todd remained next to him, though now he was curled up and hugging his one leg to his chest. Pietro, on the other hand, kept searching for his sister. Having looked through all the caskets on one side of the room, he moved to the other and tore open the first one. His gasp filled the room and the others looked in his direction.

" Wanda... oh thank Gawd... oh thank you," he sobbed out, touching her blood stained face with her wide, dead eyes. Her body was stark naked, her pale skin sprinkled with blood and icy from her coffin. However, it remained in one piece.

Feeling hot tears running down his face, Pietro reached down and closed her eyes. Then he brushed her hair over the hole in her forehead, looking at her blood stained face with fresh agony running through his heart. He'd been too late to save her, but at least he'd made sure those horrible doctors hadn't been able to tear apart her body. Of that, he knew he could be happy. So, with heavy heart, and bloody tears dripping onto her neck, he laid a kiss on her cheek and then eased the cover of her coffin shut. He began to mutter a prayer in Hebrew, using blood to write 'Here Lies Wanda Maximoff' on the front of the casket.

" May you rest in peace, sis," he whispered, before leaving her casket and sinking down next to Lance. The older boy put an arm around him and squeezed, " She... she... looks... peaceful... I guess..." was the last thing he said as he choked and covered his eyes with his hand. Neither of the other two said anything, though Todd cried silently for his lost love.

* * *

A long time pasted after that. Pietro got up and tried the combination lock about a thousand times at his fastest speed, but none of the combinations he used opened the door. Eventually, he just sat there, desperately trying to figure out what the do or remember if the doctors had said anything about numbers in the duration of their stay there. On the other side of the room, Lance sat there, trying to build up enough strength to create another earthquake. He'd made several so far and had cracked the ground, but hadn't shifted the door at all. Next to him, Todd was still curled up, his gold eyes blank and his body shaking.

Lance glanced away from the opposing wall to the boy next to him. Todd's body hadn't stopped shaking for hours, several hours from what he could tell. He knew he wasn't shaking from the cold of the room nor because of the sights that surrounded him. He knew, as Pietro knew, Todd was dying of infection brought on by his amputation. He had been for days. Moving had only made it worse, caused death to speed up.

" What're we gonna do, Lance? I can't get the door to open," the blond muttered, breaking the silence. The older boy turned hopeless brown eyes on him, " I'll keep trying,"

" Yeah. Sounds good," he answered, touching the cold ground and causing a tremor to rip through the ground. The cement bent and cracked up next to the door, starting to twist it, but that was the extent of what he could do. Gasping out, he slumped forward, gripping at his sides.

Clicking echoed out as Pietro punched in number after number. Time drifted into more time, Lance's head spinning from blood loss. Todd coughed next to him, blood dripping onto the floor from his mouth, his webbed hands clenching together. Lance took one of the hands in his and squeezed, knowing what was coming. Pietro turned as a beeping went off.

" Shit... Lance, it needs another code. Do I keep at it?"

" Yeah, keep trying Quicksilver. We'll get out of here soon,"

" Yo... man..." Todd choked out, coughing up more blood. Pietro stopped what he was doing, turning around. Lance swallowed and looked down at those pained eyes, " I don't... think... I'm... gonna make it... sos, ya guys can just leave me here... okay? I... wanna stay with Wanda anyways... an'... Fred deserves ta have someone wit him..."

" Yeah, okay, Todd... whatever you say," Lance shakily said, gripping the hand held in his. Pietro shook, his hand covering his mouth, his head shaking back and forth, " Pietro... keep looking for that code..."

Todd smiled weakly as Pietro nodded, turning away to rest his head on the door. Lance watched as those golden eyes faded out and Todd's hand grew limp in his own. The smile stayed on his face, though the pain disappeared from his eyes. Lance forced back a scream and Pietro shook with tears, banging on the door that prevented their escape.

Neither said anything more, but in their heads they prayed for Todd Tolansky, Toad, as he passed away next to them.


	6. Chapter 6

Lance stayed next to Todd's corpse long after the younger boy had died. He just didn't want to leave him there. There was nowhere to go anyways. It was remain in the graveyard of deformed bodies with the only other living person or go back into the cell room with dead people and terrible memories. He choose to stay near Pietro's frantic beeping on the control system on the door, next to his dead teammate, for the long hours and hours and more hours that stretched before the two surviving Brotherhood members.

Though, Lance wasn't aware of the time that passed. His brain was failing to register usual human needs, such as hunger and time and thirst and the desire to live on another day. All he could feel was the numb ache that had washed over his body as his blood leaked out of holes in his legs and the bullet wound in his side. All he could think about were the wretched deaths of his closest friends. One on the operating table in fear, one shot to death in desperation, and one bled to death in pain. If the doctors hadn't already been crushed, he'd have gone to find them to rip their hearts out. Those were his only thoughts as he sat, staring at the floor and shaking from the cold.

A beeping went off and his head slowly turned to where Pietro was still lightly banging his head into the metal door. They both stared in shock as the padlocks clicked open and the door to their freedom unlocked.

" Oh my Gawd... Lance... it's open..." the blond exclaimed, suddenly on his feet, backing up as if afraid of what would happen if the door completely opened and he was next to it. Lance heaved himself to his feet, his legs burning slightly as he did. The two stood by each other as the door inched open on it's own, revealing what would lead to their escape.

What stretched on before them was a long, long, seemingly endless dark hallway. The only things they could make out were bloody footprints and the stone walls that disappeared into utter and complete darkness. There were no lights, candles, torches. The entire thing was a void, with icy air drifting into the room like the cold hands of death beckoning forward into a dark hole in the ground that led nowhere but Hell. There were no signs of life, of hope, in that black pathway. Only the ominous footprints in the dark, dried blood from past visits to this chamber they'd been tortured and trapped in for so long.

" We're going to die if we go in there, I just know it," Pietro said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two when the door had opened. Lance glanced at the blond's fearful blue eyes and swallowed hard.

" We're gonna die h-here, Pietro, if w-we don't go," Lance whispered, his voice shaking not from fear but from sheer exhaustion. The other boy looked at him for a long moment, before briefly nodding his head, " We h-have to,"

" I know,"

" We're g-gonna need a l-light or something,"

" I know,"

" G-go look f-for something, w-would ya then?"

" I don't want to leave them. It's not fair, Lance," Pietro suddenly said, his face gaining a look of pained guilt. Lance's eyes closed, shaking his head. A hand gripped his shoulder tightly, " We can't just leave them here! They deserve better then this! You can't honestly think that I'd leave them here! In this place! How can _you_! I-"

" W-what can we d-do? We can't t-take them wi-with us," was the other's response, pushing the blond off him. Pain shot through him at the sudden movement, but he just gritted his teeth and bore it.

" Let's bury them,"

Lance stared in shock at the statement. For a moment, he couldn't begin to comprehend what was being said. Bury them? Where? They were surrounded on all sides by cement and steel. Then it dawned on his numb mind that Pietro meant to put Todd and Fred in the makeshift coffins, as had been done with Wanda. Upon realizing that, Lance looked over at the bloody ice chests full of corpses of people they'd never known.

" We can empty two," Pietro whispered, motioning towards the caskets. The other's brown eyes drifted towards the casket that bore the Scarlet Witch's name, and he nodded.

" W-we'll empty t-two on top-p, then w-we bury th-them. Then, w-we leave," he stated, pointing a quivering finger at some of the caskets.

With that said, the two began their work. Covering mouths and noses, they pulled the tops off two of the ice chests and began to tear and chip at the remains in them. Skin ripped off, frozen to the sides, blood sealing bodies together in grotesque fashions. Pietro gagged, Lance squeezed his eyes shut, but corpses peeled away in chunks and limbs, tossed onto the piles of rotting remains. They fought not to think about the people they were disregarding, trying to think about them as dolls or something rather then dead mutants. Eventually, as much of the caskets were cleared as could be cleared. Lance shut them so that the cold air wouldn't escape and then turned to his only teammate.

" F-Fred first-t, cause a-after we bu-bury To-Todd, we can ju-just leave," he instructed, coughing into his hand. Pietro agreed, " Le-let's do th-this quick,"

" Sure," Pietro grabbed hold of Lance's arm and helped him walk back into the cell room they'd fought so hard to escape. The place smelled, but not nearly as bad as the graveyard they'd just left. Praying that Fred still looked alright, they approached his remains.

His body was still slumped over, dried blood caked on his clothes and the floor about him. The smile that had been on his face was still there, his eyes vacantly staring out at them. Pietro swallowed, stopping short of him. Lance nudged him forward and they awkwardly stumbled over to their friend.

At first, they just stood there, trying to avoid looking in those eyes. Then, taking in a deep breath, Lance closed the eyes lids and nodded. Each of them grabbed one of his arms and struggled to lift him. The struggle, however, was not due to his weight, as it had been decreased dramatically. They found that blood loss made they shake and nearly tumble over as soon as Fred was on his feet. Slowly, though, they began to take shaky, unsure steps back towards the graveyard, Lance grabbing a lighter on the way.

Pietro choked on tears, knowing that the reason they could barely do this was because Lance was dying slowly, just like Todd had been. Still, he said nothing. He'd known his leader for a while now. He knew Lance would never admit to the agony of death and he'd rather let him have his dignity.

They stepped into the graveyard, moving carefully in the doorway and took the remaining steps to one of the caskets. Using his legs, Pietro pushed it to the floor and forced it open in jerky movements that nearly toppled them once more. As soon as the top crashed into the ground, they laid Fred's corpse inside. With a little adjustment, he fit just fine. Making the sign of the cross, Lance pulled the top back on as Pietro whispered a quick Hebrew prayer. Then the blond wrote, in his own blood, 'Here Lies Fred Dukes' on the cover.

" Rest in peace, Freddy. We'll come back for you when we get outta here," he said as he wiped the blood away. Lance nodded roughly, before turning away and wiping his eyes free of tears.

" O-okay, To-Todd next," Lance choked out, leaving the casket and walking over to their younger teammate. Pietro followed, stopping when the other did.

Todd stared up at them with blank, lifeless eyes, a smile lingering on his lips. He remained as he had been for the hours that he'd been dead. Blood drenched the floor around him, sticking his clothes to the floor. Lance took in a weak breath, before crouching down and touching the younger's corpse. He gave it a sharp tug and his body came up from the ground. Pietro flinched, covering his face, then he helped Lance stand up.

Lance carried the body to the other casket, Pietro hurrying ahead of him to pull the top off. There, the older laid Todd's body into the casket and Pietro closed it over him as the sign of the cross was done. Pietro whispered a prayer for his fallen teammate in Hebrew, writing 'Here Lies Todd Tolansky' on the cover. Then he briefly said, for only Todd to hear, that he hoped he'd take care of Wanda in the afterlife until he got there, as no one had cared for her as much as he had in life. Knowing his sister was to be taken care of, a sense of relief lifted off the blond's shoulders.

" R-rest in p-peace," the brunette muttered, doing the sign of the cross once more, " We-we'll be b-back. W-wait for us," he looked at Pietro, who gave him calm blue eyes, " Let-s g-go,"

" We'll leave the door open, just in case," Pietro left the sentence at that, pulling one of Lance's arms over his shoulders and walking them to the door and it's black hallway. The other flicked the lighter on, the light jumping violently as his hand shook, and they stepped into that icy darkness, away from their friends and towards what they hoped would be freedom.

* * *

The hallway went on forever, it appeared. The bloody footprints drifted off to the sides of the walls where rotting heaps of flesh sagged to the floor. Their small light cast shadows all over though it did nothing to help them find the way out. Doors appeared out of the corners of eyes, but all needed codes to unlock and were left in hopes that the next one would be unlocked or easily broken. None were. Still, they pressed on, knowing that somewhere, there was an exit they could use. They couldn't think any other way. So, they moaned in sheer agony and moved forward in careful steps, the light showing only more darkness before them.

Throughout their walk, Lance coughed and choked on blood, his legs feeling limp and lifeless. He closed his eyes and pushed his feet forward, leaning more of his weight on the nearly healthy legs of his friend. Pietro gasped out, fire ripping through his belly, warm blood trickling down where the stitches gave out. Neither said anything, however, as they didn't want to admit it. But they knew it. Lance was dying, slowly, but surely.

Suddenly, they came to abrupt stop, a stone wall leering up in front of them. A hallway tore off to the left, narrow and black, but it was the only way. Pietro steered them to it, but as he did, Lance's legs gave out and the two were jerked to the ground.

" Lance!" Pietro cried out as the other shook and coughed, his body curling up. Blood splattered into Lance's hands and onto the floor in front of him, the fire going out. The blond clicked it back on and held it close to him, " Lance... you should rest here... you-"

" Sh-shut up... P-Pietro-o..."

" Listen to me! You can't-" he was cut off by Lance spitting up blood and sick on the floor. Pietro swallowed hard as the other squeezed his eyes shut.

" P-Pietro... I... I'm n-not go-gonna m-make it. W-we both know-w it," the older one began, his eyes opening and looking at Pietro's shaking head, " I w-want you t-to go fi-find help, o-kay? L-leave me here-e an-and go for hel-help, ok-okay? Som-someone's gonna c-come an-and y-you gotta g-get outta here-e, f-for the others and m-me, ok-okay?" he reached out a shuddering hand and grasped one of the blond's as tears dripped onto the floor from both of them, " Don't... don't y-you d-dare die o-on me ok-okay? Ok-kay?"

" I can't, Lance. I can't," he sobbed out, " I can't leave you here. I can't. You helped save my life. I can't do it. I'll take you back... I'll take you to the others,"

" Don't y-you d-dare, P-Pietro-o, don't y-you d-dar-re," Lance's voice got stern for a second, before he coughed more blood into his hand, " Y-ou'll d-die if you don't g-go now,"

" I can't. I won't," the blond got to his feet and pulled Lance up with him. The older boy gagged, his body sinking down some, " I'll take you back. I'll take you back," he repeated over and over as Lance shook his head and tried to speak through all the blood and coughing, his hands slipping as he grabbed hold of Pietro's shirt to get him to stop and leave him there, " I'll take you back,"

* * *

All was quiet when Pietro stumbled back into the graveyard. Lance coughed weakly next to him, his shirt slick with what was left of his blood. Pietro laid him down on the floor, looking over him to see the damage. Those fading brown eyes glared up at him, a small line of red liquid trickling down from his mouth. The blond wiped the blood off and Lance smiled a little, his hand finding Pietro's only remaining one.

Despite his outrage that he'd been disobeyed in his final hours, Lance couldn't say he wasn't happy that he wasn't passing away alone. Those were the last thoughts that crossed his mind as he gave one last shudder and his eyes faded out in front of Pietro's shaking body. The smile lingered, but his hand grew limp and the coughing ceased.

Sobbing, Pietro choked out a prayer for Lance Alvers, Avalanche, as he died before him.


	7. Chapter 7

The lightbulb that lit up the graveyard flickered as Pietro stared up at the ceiling from where he was sitting next to his sister's coffin. Tears ran down his bloodied face, sobs being the only sounds in the quiet of the room. The three caskets of his friends were lined up, their names shining in his blood. He'd emptied two more caskets and laid Lance to rest in one, saying a prayer for the older boy and wishing him well wherever he went.

Then he'd just sat down and cried alone in the room so full of bodies. The emptiness he felt was overwhelming and made him choke and sob and wish he hadn't been the one who'd survived. Seeing all those deaths, those bodies, had rattled him down to the bones and he had to let it out somehow now that he was completely and utterly alone. He'd screamed himself hoarse in horror of what he'd seen, his voice bouncing off the walls and echoing throughout the graveyard and the hallway next to it. After that, he couldn't do anything but cry. So, he'd sat there next to his dead sister and cried and cried and knew none of them would ever judge him for it. They all understood, even the ones who'd never known him. And they all remained quiet and let him cry for the ones he'd lost in such unfair and vicious manners.

He knew he should just leave. He had the lighter and he knew the way to get to that narrow hallway that veered to the left, which more then likely led to the freedom they'd all been searching for. Yet, he found that he couldn't rise to his feet anymore. Honestly, he wasn't surprised. His stomach and gun shot wounds were still bleeding, as was his arm. Like Todd and Lance before him, he was dying of blood loss and probably infection. It was only a matter of time before he passed on to the next world to join his friends wherever it was they were waiting for him.

He couldn't leave. Pietro wanted to be buried with his nearest and dearest. He knew that there was a strong chance that he could've found a way out and survived. His legs were decently healthy, still in one piece anyways. However, he didn't want to die alone in some dark, cold, heartless hallway if he shouldn't make it to freedom. He'd much rather die there, in that forsaken graveyard.

" W-why would I w-want to live anyways?" he asked himself, coughing just slightly and wiping away blood. He stared long and hard at the trail of red on the back of his hand, before giving a weak laugh, " I'm really dying..."

His voice trailed off as the lightbulb flickered away, dying just like he was. His blue eyes looked up at it, then back down that the casket that sat next to his teammates. He'd cleared it out in case this happened. In case he started to cough off blood and felt the icy touch of Death himself. He'd torn away people's hands and flesh and faces to make room for himself so that he wouldn't have to be alone, so that he'd have a place to be. He'd known he wouldn't leave and he'd known he'd need a resting place. He just didn't want to die and disappear like the corpses next to him, becoming an unidentifiable mess that would lead people to believe he'd escaped and abandoned those who'd risked their lives and died in front of him to try and live on.

Thus, Pietro pulled himself to his feet and grabbed hold of Wanda's casket. He struggled, but dragged it over and in between his and Todd's coffins. It wasn't right that she be left all on her own away from the rest of them. That wouldn't have been fair, especially considering she'd had the most painful death. So, he pulled her next to him, as her brother, and Todd, who'd loved her so much, he hadn't been willing to leave her even in death.

A cough rattled his body, blood splattering onto the floor as he stumbled and tried to steady himself. Once steady, he ran a finger in the stream of hot liquid running down his stomach from the gun shot wound that throbbed in his shoulder. A moan left his mouth as he wrote 'Here Lies Pietro Maximoff' on the cover in said blood, before pushing it to the side a little.

" May I r-rest in peace," he whispered, sitting down and flinching in the cold of the ice chest. The cold was biting, but he just shuddered and forced himself to stay where he was. He reached up and took hold of the top of the nail mark riddled top to his coffin.

This was it, he knew. There was no turning back. Blood was freezing him to the casket and he'd die if he tried to climb back out. Not that there was a reason to take that risk. There was nothing for him, as his future and life had been with the Brotherhood that lay still beside him. Taking in a deep breath, he whispered a prayer in Hebrew for himself, casting a glance at the coffins beside him.

Fred Dukes. Lance Alvers. Todd Tolansky. Wanda Maximoff. And now, Pietro Maximoff.

Pietro pulled the casket shut and prayed that death would come quick for him as he laid down beside his friends and sister. Darkness consumed him, the cold wrapping around him, his eyes shutting and his hand gripping the torn remains of his bloody shirt. He could hear the whispers of his teammates, welcoming him into the void that they themselves had disappeared to, praying for him to join them soon and the rest peacefully beside them in that dark chamber. The cold began to disappear, drip away like his blood, and the darkness grew steadily darker until it was the blackness of the hopeless hallway that had led only to death. What felt like hands danced along his body as it went numb and he knew the hands were those of his friends, taking him down with them and easing his pain as his presence had eased theirs. A smile drifted onto his face.

The lightbulb flickered once more, then died quietly in the sudden darkness of the room.


End file.
